214a. Patrick's Coupon

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That's a nifty little title there. Curious as to what it's about. :) Discuss the new episode when it airs.
 

McSponge

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Modern SpongeBob episodes heavily rely on bouncy, exaggerated, cartoony expressions, and animation. This episode is probably when this animation is at its best. The animation in this episode is really impressive if you ask me. There are a lot of well done movements and faces made by Patrick, which I really felt made up for the lack of comedy in this episode. Sure, there were some funny jokes (Like how Patrick got the handshake for SpongeBob in the end), but most of the episode relied on visual humor, which I can appreciate. I really do think the visuals are at their best in this episode, if you ask me. Primarily during the 2nd half of the episode. Once Patrick arrives to the Ice Cream place, the visuals are really good, not only in Patrick, but also in the scenery, and that's something really enjoyable to witness. I also really like the visuals while Patrick dueled with the Ice Cream king, I think that was well choreographed.

Now, let's talk about the plot of the episode. The episode's plot seems pretty generic. It feels like a plot you'd find in a Mickey Mouse Works Cartoon (Though the execution isn't nearly as incredible as the Mickey Mouse Works Cartoons). The plot is pretty weak, and doesn't seem to be that special, but rather forced. I don't think the plot really picked up until the climax of the episode, in which Patrick dueled with the Ice Cream King, but by then, the majority of the episode was nothing but a weak, predictable plot. Sure, the animation is great, but that's more of a distraction from the lame plot. The concept is really weak in my opinion, and the execution of it seemed mediocre. I would've rather had Patrick go on some sort of quest to find the Ice Cream King, a big grand adventure, rather than witness him going around trying to keep his coupon for himself.

The characters in this episode are well rounded. Patrick is caring, and tries to do everything he can to get an ice cream for his best buddy. Squidward is a great character in this episode, and I'm really glad he stood up for Patrick when Krabs was about to scam him. The Ice Cream King is a delightful, jolly character, and is a perfect shadow of Patrick's character. Now, the rest of the characters aren't that good in my opinion. SpongeBob comes off as a very forced character, and seems to speak things with lots of exposition. Not every moment needs to be a crazy animated moment. You can have those, as they are enjoyable to watch, but having them for moments when they're unnecessary, that's overkill. Krabs is a predictable scoundrel in this episode, and I feel as if his scene was just meant to kill time (Or at least set up Patrick's skeptical nature regarding other people and his coupon). I would've much rather had Krabs scene be either much shorter, or not exist at all within the episode. The background characters are alright, nothing too special came out of them.

The jokes...ugh...

I think the statement that Season 10 is unfunny, due to the lack of dialogue based humor has really gotten to my head. It's really all I think about whenever I'm judging the humor in an episode, and I think that kind of taints the episode in my opinion. Regardless though, the animation is so great, and comically drawn in this episode, that I think it really makes up for the lack of jokes. Sometimes the animation itself is just funny, so it does help fill in the gap of the lack of jokes. Other jokes seem very forced in this episode, like they appear because "Story demands they do so". The only type of humor that wasn't driven from animation in this episode that I remember easily, is the cheesy puns used during the battle sequence. Oh yeah, did I mention I really like the battle sequence?

The beginning of the episode starts off very well. A battle between Patrick and the Sea-Spider was great! It was exciting, well animated, and even some visual gags came off of it as well. It was very entertaining. Then, things start to drag on, and progress hardly, once Patrick states he is going to get SpongeBob an icecream. These parts are so forced, it is painful to watch. I don't find any entertaining value out of these parts, they were ultimately unfunny, and slowly paced. Once Krabs scared Patrick, Patrick is on alert. These scenes are meh. Nothing too special comes out of these scenes, I guess they're impressive visually, but the amount of entertainment that comes out of them otherwise isn't that good. Finally, things pick up once Patrick approaches the Ice Cream place (Which I have previously praised for its stunning scenery). This scene is pretty good, but then Patrick's coupon is revealed to be...EXPIRED!?

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What is he to do!? Things do start to get interesting, as an employee tells Patrick about...the ice cream king!

You know, as cool as the ice cream place was, I think this episode missed out on an opportunity to include Goofy Goober's Ice Cream Parlor. Anyway, Patrick makes his way into the home of the Ice Cream King. This part was so visually entertaining, goodness, I love the visuals in these scenes. That being said, if it weren't for the animation, it'd feel like a poorly paced, awkward exchange between two characters from a Season 6 episode. Now, there are definitely funny gags in these scenes. The "Glasses" gag is really funny, and I did like the sprinkle gag. Now, the fight was easily the highlight of the episode. I really did like seeing Patrick and the King battling similar to how Patrick wanted to battle the spider from earlier (A little foreshadowing?). Ultimately, the battle contains a missed opportunity. There could've been a callback to Krabby Road, with Patrick growing hair on demand, like he did in that episode. It's a shame, because the result of what happens isn't any better than what could've been done. Patrick returns to SpongeBob's house, and hey! SpongeBob has the ice cream for no explained reason! That's all folks!


So ultimately, I feel this episode was nothing but missed opportunity. Sure, there were good moments, and I still adore the animation in this episode, but this episode could've been a lot better if certain things were done differently (Let's say, make the coupon not the main focus of the episode, but rather focus on Patrick looking for the Ice Cream King? An adventure like that would've been incredible). There really aren't any jokes in this episode, but the animation can be comical at times.

Ultimately, it's an Okay Episode. I notice a lot of people really seem to like this episode, so I guess this time, I'm the odd one out.

I give it a 6.5/10.
 

Honest Slug

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Not a huge fan of this episode. The plot felt very meandering and dry. Lots of setpieces in this episode but not many of them have a purpose. There was also a general lack of comedy in this episode as Patrick doesn't have much characters to interact with besides pretty much another Patrick.

Besides some jerky Patrick moments here and there. There's not too much wrong with this episode. Just kinda bland and pointless.

5/10
 

Klu

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First episode in a long time that I truly disliked.
It's not level of seasons 6-8 bad, but still almost unwatchable.
Only scene that was kinda good - Mr.Krubs scene in the beginning.
3/10
 

babydoll

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ummmm this started okay but it wasn't good. the ice cream king part especially was really tedious and unfunny. :/
 

Ellie Williams

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Is it me or is Kaz's writing skills is just getting weaker and weaker also i heard in this website that Vincent waller is running spongebob and a member here too so if he's reading this, bring back ch greenblatt and pairing up with kaz because they make good and classic episodes
 

RomNick

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Aquamarine said:
Is it me or is Kaz's writing skills is just getting weaker and weaker also i heard in this website that Vincent waller is running spongebob and a member here too so if he's reading this, bring back ch greenblatt and pairing up with kaz because they make good and classic episodes
He doesn't pick writers, as far as I know. And the pairing of the writers is a rare thing now, as the episodes are script-based, not storyboard-based, as Hillenburg decided.
 

Season 4-11

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This episode wasn't bad, but really forgettable. I loved the "Glasses" reference, and the bit with Krabs was funny, but that's it. There's not really anything I disliked ether though. Kinda in the middle. But the score improves because the Krabs part did go on for a while. 6.5/10
 
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Surprised to see people disliking this.


I thought it was okay at best. During the beginning, I expected something bad from the episode. Patrick throwing SpongeBob's ice cream felt lime typical season 7 Patrick and that starting the plot felt forced but luckily It didn't go with the direction I was expecting. I legit expected SpongeBob to tag along and Patrick acting even worse towards him like most likely him getting the ice cream but not giving it to SpongeBob. Instead it was Patrick solo adventure, which could have been so bad but It didn't. I liked how pacing was well balanced for the most part. There were some good gags. Patrick being on the ground and couple thinking it's a Hollywood star, except an ugly one and them doing a meta commentary on this show was very funny. I liked how one of the cops didn't care so much about Patrick disturbing people and eating his pie. The part when the ice cream worker insulting Patrick and then close up of how Patrick was so messy and pathetic made me laugh. Visually this episode looks great, no surprise here. I was legit enjoying this episode until ice cream king stuff started. I was being interested in this because It looked like the climax of the episode and Patrick having a showdown with ice cream king and unfortunately ice cream king turned out to be a starfish with same looks and personality as Patrick. Yeah, I didn't like that. I liked how ice cream king sounded like Uncle Grandpa (guessing that was actual voice actor of Uncle Grandpa) but I still didn't like the character. Their showdown was occasionally fun but mostly lame and annoying, especially hair growth gag. Maybe I would get invested in another Patrick if that was actually like Patrick from the future because he looked older than Patrick and both has same personalities and looks. Maybe the episode could have gone a bit insane with Patrick driving himself to insane with ice cream coupon and for some reason going back in time and becoming ice cream king. Well It could have been overstuffed and complicated tho but idk, that would have been much better than just seeing two Patrick having a lame showdown. It was kind of sweet to see SpongeBob having a giant ice cream and sharing with Patrick lol.

Overall, I would say middle part of this episode was actually good but I didn't like how it started and how the climax turned out to be. Just an okay episode I suppose.

Grade: B-
 

DigDugtrio

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Jokes fell flat here, and was pretty boring at times. I did like that Patrick was thinking about SpongeBob receiving the ice cream instead of himself, which was a nice change.

Overall I'd give it a low 5/10
 

BobCarotte

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Patrick's Coupon was better than its sister episode. Yes, there were some jerk Patrick moments but at least he thought of his bestest friend called SpongeBob. I love when PatBob moments happen, for example the ending that is the best part of the episode IMO. I give this episode a 7.5/10. Not bad. :)
 

WayslideCool

You know what else is yellow? You are!
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This episode is fine. I feel Patrick is a really likable character, since his motivations are endearing and his thought process can be understood. Of course, not everyone is out to get his coupon, but after his experience with Mr. Krabs, it would make sense why he'd believe such a thing. The animation is pretty fun in this episode, which I will always throw on brownie points for. However, I will also admit the episode isn't the most memorable, and I do feel they could've handled the Ice Cream King a little better. He had some funny moments, like how the coupons are all out of date because he doesn't know what year it is, but occasionally he felt a little more like... a dumber Patrick, as some others have described. I feel characters work best when they get to bounce off of dissimilar characters. Two Patricks ultimately isn't the most interesting character interaction. However, I will admit, there was no doubt I was smiling throughout the episode. It felt sweet, and occasionally could get some nice chuckles out of me. Not the best episode Season 10 has had to offer, but one I enjoyed nonetheless. It may end up in my Bottom 5 for the Season, but don't consider that bad - Season 10 as a whole has been really solid in my opinion, and being "slightly less good than a really good episode" isn't a crime. I'd still willingly watch this episode if given the chance, and probably enjoy it all the while. It's leaning between 7 and 8 out of 10 for me, but since I like to trend towards the positive I will go for the 8. The episode is sweet and funny, even if there are some moments I do feel could use a little polish.
 
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